Keep Clam...and beat a Top-4 London Rival

Hey, remember that time I was freaking out because I was positive that Fulham F.C. were in a tailspin and I said manager Martin Jol was on the verge on getting fired if they didn't do well in their upcoming matches?

It was only two weeks ago.

Match report Video -

Defeat is generally a painful experience. Defeat in circumstances like yesterday's even more so. It was late, very late, and pretty much self-inflicted.

It came after what was a pretty good opening 45 minutes from us. We were energetic, good going forward and while Fulham had their moments I thought we contained them pretty well defensively.

Chelsea moved back up to fourth place in the Premier League after picking up a 2-1 away victory against Wolves, although it took an 89th-minute winner by Frank Lampard to end Chelsea's four-match winless run.

Stephen Ward thought he had done enough to earn Wolves their fourth consecutive draw when he cancelled out Ramires's second-half effort with just five minutes remaining, but Lampard pounced to take the Blues a point above Arsenal, who failed to reclaim fourth spot after losing 2-1 at Fulham.

Chelsea moved back up to fourth place in the Premier League after picking up a 2-1 away victory against Wolves, although it took an 89th-minute winner by Frank Lampard to end Chelsea's four-match winless run.

Stephen Ward thought he had done enough to earn Wolves their fourth consecutive draw when he cancelled out Ramires's second-half effort with just five minutes remaining, but Lampard pounced to take the Blues a point above Arsenal, who failed to reclaim fourth spot after losing 2-1 at Fulham.

Andy Carroll's ineffectiveness adds to Liverpool frustration at Fulham | Richard Williams

Another lumbering performance from Liverpool's £35m striker played its part in a Fulham victory than was hardly deserved Liverpool brought the first chill blast of winter to the Cottage, and it blew them right back home.

The International break means there's little Fulham news to talk about. England did what they needed to do and qualified for Euro 2012 but the press had a field day over Rooney's sending off. How perfect for the British media that the man most in the spotlight should rise to the bait and give them something to write about.

Our recent performances have been more positive I think. We're still desperate for that elusive Premier League win but I'm feeling much happier than I was a few weeks back. Tomorrow's going to be a tough game to watch though. We'll all be on edge the longer we go without scoring and should we go behind, well I think it might get ugly.

By Chris Wright

In which Sky Sports News pundit Charlie Nicholas accidentally reveals the real reason that Roberto Mancini was so pissed off with Carlos Tevez after the Bayern Munich debacle...

If Champagne Charlie's telling the truth here then it's yet more truly disgusting conduct on Tevez's part the guy's out of control.

This seems to have flown under the radar a bit with all the hand-wringing about Sunday, but our squad for the Europa League group stages has been announced. Not too many surprises, except one.

Goalies
1 Mark Schwarzer
22 Csaba Somogyi
38 Neil Etheridge*
41 Marcus Bettinelli*
44 Jesse Joronen*

Defenders
2 Stephen Kelly
3 John Arne Riise
5 Brede Hangeland
6 Chris Baird
14 Philippe Senderos
18 Aaron Hughes
26 Zdenek Grygera
28 Matthew Briggs*
39 Stephen Arthurworrey*
40 Alex Smith*

Midfielders
4 Steve Sidwell
10 Pajtim Kasami
13 Danny Murphy
15 Marcel Gecov
16 Damien Duff
20 Dickson Etuhu
21 Kerim Frei
23 Clint Dempsey
37 Courtney Harris*
43 Josh Pritchard*

Forwards
8 Andrew Johnson
9 Orlando Sá
25 Bobby Zamora
30 Moussa Dembélé
35 Richard Peniket*
42 Marcello Trotta*

No, the surprise is not Ruiz.

I mean, come on, it's a valid explanation. Did he?

Apologies for the lateness of this post. I have a tight schedule on weekdays, so writing and posting stuff is harder for me now. We'll get back to regular programming this weekend for the Swansea game.

Injuries, well.... injuries SUCK.

Senderos gets lost in translation... we think Fulham defender Philippe Senderos gave some insight into why Joey Barton is not the most popular figure among his fellow professionals by revealing a rather unusual tackling technique live on ESPN. Senderos said: "I think with Joey Barton you know what to expect.

There are no words to aptly sum Philippe Senderos' verbal faux pas.

Immediately going to Joey's Twitter for his reaction, this may or may not be it.

Joey7Barton Joseph Barton
@terencejolley then I decided, to stop thinking and start doing. It's about doing ur little bit.

By Chris Wright

Speaking on ESPN's Talk Of The Terrace last night, Fulham's Philippe Senderos gave us a terrifying glimpse into what (aside from Googling Nietzsche quotes and finding photos of WW1 infantrymen for his next trip to the barbers) really gets Joey Barton going.

Yikes. A horror show from Fulham, the sort of performance that really causes fans to question the team's direction, second league game of the season or otherwise. Wolves are a handy side, of course, and were at home, but we'd expect to have given them more of a game. We'd expect to not play so carelessly, so.

The new 2011/12 Premier League season is finally here! It's the battle of the new managers at Craven Cottage today, although Martin Jol does have several competitive games under his belt in the Europa League.

Here are the confirmed line-ups for both sides:

Fulham Aston Villa 1 Mark Schwarzer 1 Shay Given 18 Aaron Hughes 2 Luke Young 14 Philippe Senderos 6 James Collins 5 Brede Hangeland 5 Richard Dunne 7 John Arne Riise 3 Stephen Warnock 16 Damien Duff 10 Charles N'Zogbia 20 Dickson Etuhu 16 Fabian Delph 13 Danny Murphy 19 Stiliyan Petrov 23 Clint Dempsey 18 Emile Heskey 8 Andrew Johnson 11 Gabriel Agbonlahor 25 Bobby Zamora 9 Darren Bent Subs Subs 38 Neil Etheridge 22 Brad Guzan 2 Stephen Kelly 21 Ciaran Clark 6 Chris Baird 7 Stephen Ireland 28 Matthew Briggs 17 Jean II Makoun 4 Steve Sidwell 12 Marc Albrighton 10 Pajtim Kasami 25 Barry Bannan 30 Moussa Dembele 14 Nathan Delfouneso Probable Formation: Castrol Football Prediction Today's other Premier League fixtures:

• Blackburn vs Wolves
• Liverpool vs Sunderland
• QPR vs Bolton
• Wigan vs Norwich
• Newcastle vs Arsenal (1730)

There was an interesting comment on Twitter today from Tor-Kristian Karlsen, a football scout. Karlsen noted that while Premiership clubs do have an overview for the world's footballers, most are, I quote:

Tor-Kristian Karlsen
karlsentk Tor-Kristian Karlsen
many people (justifiably) puzzled that few premier league clubs were seriously in for arturo vidal (no idea if arsenal interest was genuine)

personally i think the reason is lack of contacts and connections.

Stevenage 1-0 Fulham | Shroot 80
Pre-Season Friendly | Broadhall Way | 786

Pre-season is well underway now and Boro secured their second successive victory with a 1-0 win over a Fulham XI this afternoon. A late strike from trialist Robin Shroot was enough to give Graham Westley's side the win after a solid performance in the Sunday showers.

These good people needs a good season end send off from Arsenal

Finally, we've come to the last match of the season. I'm sure everyone of us would still want to be involve until next weekend, which would mean we qualified for the Champions League final, but I'm not quite sure we would've deserve that spot.

These good people needs a good season end send off from Arsenal

Finally, we've come to the last match of the season. I'm sure everyone of us would still want to be involve until next weekend, which would mean we qualified for the Champions League final, but I'm not quite sure we would've deserve that spot.

These good people needs a good season end send off from Arsenal

Finally, we've come to the last match of the season. I'm sure everyone of us would still want to be involve until next weekend, which would mean we qualified for the Champions League final, but I'm not quite sure we would've deserve that spot.

These good people needs a good season end send off from Arsenal

Finally, we've come to the last match of the season. I'm sure everyone of us would still want to be involve until next weekend, which would mean we qualified for the Champions League final, but I'm not quite sure we would've deserve that spot.

Not just back-to-back wins, back-to-back 3-0 wins. How about that? And one of them was away. These are heady times we live in.

Sunderland looked like a team with no forwards and no interest. When you play against a midfield containing Cattermole and Henderson you expect to have a battle on your hands, but according to the BBC Sunderland committed precisely one foul in the whole of the first half.

Good morning to you. While the other day I suggested this Interlull would be timely from an Arsenal point of view, I did not realise how horrendous it would be in other ways.

Well, one other way in particular. You can't look at a sports section this morning without the ghastly countenance of John Terry staring back at you.

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You'll find the Premier League Transfers from summer 2010 listed here. Archives for older transfer seasons are at the end of this page. For the latest transfer rumours and transfer lists for other leagues, see our transfer news column.

There's a lack to talk about Fulham these days. The euphoria of last season, with the Hodgson army battling their way to the Europa League final, has somewhat died.

Like an inflating balloon, the media rushed in during their European cup run: all full of praise for Roy's lads who rose above the odds to scalp Shakhtar, Juventus and Wolfsburg.